the Common-wealth of England which by vertue of that conquest have therein Placed Garrisons and English Colonies according to the Roman Rule to contein them in subjection peace and union But to apply my Pen to the other rule which is the union by laws and though it is in the power of the Conqueror at his pleasure to alter and change the laws of the conquered Kingdom Cok. L. 7. Calvins case f. 17. and that without a Parliament as Edward the first did by his Charter of Rutland but until he doth make an alteration of laws the ancient laws of that Kingdom do still remain yet certainly it is the greater victory to alter and change the Laws of the conquered with their consent that there may be a more intimatc and intire union between them And therefore did the Parliament in December 1651. to the end that the people of Scotland should be united with the people of England into one Commonwealth and under one Government send Commissioners into Scotland to invite the people of that Nation unto such an happy union who proceeded so far therein that the Shires and Burroughes of Scotland by their deputies appearing at Dalkeith and again at Edenborough did accept of the said union and assent thereunto which was seconded by the late Protector of the Commonwealth of England who by the advice of his council ordained April 5. 1654. That all the Dominions of Scotland of the Isles and Territories thereunto belonging are and shall be and are hereby incorporated into constituted and confirmed one Commonwealth with England and in every Parliament held successively for the said Commonwealth thirty persons shall be called from and serve for Scotland which Ordinance was confirmed by the Parliament in the year 1657. So many Knights and Burgesses as before was expressed who were called and summoned according to the said Ordinance were admitted to sit in the said Parliament and did vote joâ—n with the English in the making and enacting of Laws which Laws so made or hereafter to be made by them in Parliament do bind and oblige the Commons of Scotland as well as the Commons of England because the Knights and Burgesses of both Countries being chosen by the Assent of the Commons of either Countrey do represent the estates of the several and distinct Commons of either Countrey And therefore as St. German saith every statute there made Doct. Slud li. 2. c. 46. is of as strong effect in law as if all he commons were then present personally at the making thereof There are many more particular clauses in the aforesaid Ordinance contained which concurr to the more full effecting of the said union all which I refer to the consideration of the supream council of this Nation And though the constitutions of the countreys of England and Scotland be such that there can hardly in all things be such an obsolute reconciling and uniting of their laws no more then there hath been between other country's subject to the obedience and allegiance of the Kings of England as Normandy and Aquitany had several lawes different to the lawes of England Garnesey and Jersey have yet their several lawes which for the most part were the antient lawes and customs of Normandy Kent and Cornwall have also their several Laws and customs and so hath the county of Palatine of Chester yet do not these several Laws make any differences in matter of subjection and obedience and are no markes of disunion or several allegiances Howsoever as Sir Francis Bacon saith Discourse of the union of England and Scotland it is to be wished that the Scottish Nation was governed by our Lawes which with some conducement are worthy to govern if it were the world or else that Scotland be in the like degree and conditions with Wales as hath been for many hundred years those Laws and customs onely being in force which are reasonable and agreable to the Laws and customs of England for it is a matter too curious to extirpate all particular customs which are consonant to reason and it sufficeth that there be a uniformity in the fundamental Laws For language it is not needful to infist upon it because both Kingdomes are of one language though of several dialects and the difference is so small between them as Sir Francis Bacon saith Ibid. that it promiseth rather an enriching of our language then a continuance of two so as it may seem convenient that as they Originally participate of one language they should likewise be under one Government as heretofore by antient Histories they are reported to have been which is now revived and like to continue the premised Roman rules being observed But now to waft Englands conquering forces over into Ireland which though it was first conquered is placed in the Arrear for that it is more remote and separated from it by the Sea yet is it by Ptolomy stiled Britaunia Minor as an adjacent Island and is another Brittain as Brittain is said to be another world it being not inferiour to any part of Britanny for affinity and fertility as Tacitus solum Coelumque ingenia haut multum a Britannia differunt Vita Agr. And indeed is endowed with many dowries of nature with the fruitfulness of the soyl and plenty of all provision with the ports the quarries the woods and other worthy materials But yet it is under question what King first subjugated that Island Sir Edward Coke maketh mention of an antient Charter of King Edgar Cokes pre l. 4. 4th Book of Reports in which he blesseth the altitonant and omnipotent God for all his victories and that he had subjected all the Kingdomes of the Island of the Sea unto Norway with their fiercest Kings and the greatest part of Ireland with its most noble City of Dublin to the Kingdome of England and Henry of Huntington saith there were five Kingdomes in Ireland of which the great or greatest part was conquered by King Edgar Gambd Britttan â— which Cambden also affirmeth Quod maximam Hiberniae partem devicit yet because Henry the second made a more absolute conquest of it the honor of that conquest is ascribed to him and was the first was intituled Rex Angliae Dominus Haberniae and as Henry of Huntington Historieth it at his Arrival with a potent Army into Ireland the King of Cork the King of Limmerick the King of Oxery and the King of Meth submitted themselves to his summons recognizing him to be totius Hiberniae dominum only the King of Conagh stood out which Pope Alexander confirmed to him and his Heirs and which afterwards by his power was possessed and detained by English Colonies Yet was there no alteration of their Lawes till the reign of King â—ohn who as Sir Edward Coke saith 〈◊〉 the twelfth year of his raign went â—â—to Ireland and there by advice 〈◊〉 grave and learned men in the â—â—aws whom he carried with him 〈◊〉 a Parliament de
Communi omniâ—â— de Hibernia consensu enjoyned and established that Ireland should be Governed by the Laws of England Cok. Com. f. 1. a. 6. which he left in writing under his seal in the Exchequer of Dublin and which afterwards was confirmed by the Charter of Henry the third Davis rep f. 37. a 6. in the thirtieth year of his reign wherein is declared that for the common utility of the Lands in Ireland and the unity of those Lands that all the Laws and customs that are holden in the Kingdome of England be holden in Ireland and that the same Lands be subject to the same Laws and be ruled by them as King John when he was there did firmly enjoyn and therefore willed that all the writs of the common Law which run in England likewise run in Ireland and accordingly was it resolved Trin. 13. Edw. 1. Coram rege in Thesaurie in lenge placite that the same Laws ought to be in the Kingdome of Ireland as in the Kingdome of England and therefore as Sir John Davis saith every County Palatine as well in Ireland as in England was originally parcel of the Davis rep f. 6 7. B. same Realm and derived of the Crown and was alwaies governed by the Law of England and the Lands there were holden by services and tenures of which the common law took notice although the Lord had a several jurisdiction and a signiory separated from the Crown upon consideration of which Sir Edward Coke inferreth this conclusion Cok. Com. f. 14. B. that the unity of Laws is the best means for the unity of Countries as before hath been premised Yet many of the Irish soon after absolutely refused the English Laws preferring their Irish customs which they call their Brehon Law because the Irish call their Judges Brehons and therefore in the Parliament Anno 40. Ed. 3. Cok. ib. In the Parliament holden at Kilkenny in Ireland before Lionell Duke of Clarence being the Lieutenant of that Realm the Brehon Laws were declared to be no Law but a lewd custom which fot that reason were abolished Quia malus usus est abolendus And though that by that statute the Brehon Law which was the common Law of the Irish was declared to be no Law yet was it not absolutely abolished among the meer Irish Davis reports f. 39 but only prohibited and forbidden to be used among the English race and the meer Irish were left at large to be ruled by their barbarous customs as before And therefore for that by those customs bastards had their part with the legitimate women were altogether excluded from Dower that the daughters were not inheritable though their Fathers dyed without Males by the same statute it was Enacted that no compaternity Education of Infants or Marriages be made or had between the English and others in peace with the King with the meer Irish And though the statute made by King John in Ireland and the Ordinance and writ of King Henry the third were general yet is it manifest by all the antient Records of Ireland that the Common Law of England was onely put in execution in that part of Ireland which was reduced and devided into counties and possessed by the English Colonies Vid. Davis 39. a. o. and not in the Irish Counties and territories which were not reduced into Counties until the time of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth For King John made but twelve Counties but the other provinces and territories which are divided into 21. Counties at large being then inhabited for the most part by meer Irish were out of the limits of any Shire ground by the space of three hundred years after the making of the former twelve Counties for it was impossible that the common Law of England should be executed in those Counties or territories for the Common Law of England cannot be put in execution where the writ of the King doth not run but where there is a County and Sheriffe or other Ministers of the Law to serve and return the writs of the King and for this cause were the meer Irish out of the protection of the King because the Law of the King and his writs as Littleton saith Littl. Tom. f. 43. are the things by which a man is protected aided and therefore the meer Irish who had no the benefit of the Law until the time of Henry the eight where any mention is made of the Wars of Ireland are culled enemies the english rebels but by the 33. H. 8. c. 1. by which it is recited that because the King of England did not assume the name stile of King the Irish Inhabitants have not been so obedient to the King of England and his Laws as of right they ought to have been It was Enacted that King Henry the eight his Heirs and Successors shall be for ever Kings of Ireland and shall have the name stile and title of the King of that land with all the honors prerogatives and dignities appertayning to the State and Majesty of a King as united and annexed to the imperiall Crown After which royall union the said difference of the English rebells and Irish enemies is not to be found on Record but all those meer Irish were afterwards reputed and accepted subjects and Leigemen to the Kings and Queens of England and had the benefit and protection of the law of England And afterwards the Irish were more averse from Rebellions and more ready to forsake their Brehon laws and to be ruled by ours the stile and title of the King of Ireland being more pleasing acceptable to them then Lord of Ireland the one denoting a tyrannical arbitrary Government Tholos Syntag. li. 13. c. 1. the other a limited power according to law and equity For such Princes as arrogate to themselves the name of Lords seem to usurp an arbitrary and plenipotentiary power over their subjects which are Proprietors of nothing but at the will of their great Lord. And therefore did the wisest of the Boman Emperors refuse to take upon them that arrogant and absolute title Davis f. 40. B. it properly appertaining only to God but under a King the subjects are free men and have property in their Goods and Frank tenements and inheritance who doth not domineer over them according to his will and pleasure but ruleth them according to Law for as Bracton Non est Rex ubi dominatur voluntas Lib. 1. c. 4. fol. 9. non Lex And accordingly the Kings and Queens of England to the intent that the Laws of England might have a free course in and through all the Realm of Ireland as is expressed in the statute of 11. Eliz. c. 9. did they provide in several Parliaments to wit 3. 4. Ph. and Mary c. 3. and 11. Eliz. c. 9. that Commissions should be awarded to reduce into Shires and hundreds all the Irish Land which were not Shire ground before And
according to it in the several Governments of Thomas Earl of Sussex Sir Henry Sidney and Sir John Perott not only the Irish territories in the confines of Lemster but also the entire provinces of Conagh and Vlster being out of all Shire ground before were divided and distinguished into several Counties and hundreds several Sheriffs Coroners and justices of peace and other Officers and Ministers of the Law of England have been from time to time constituted in those Counties by several patents and commissions under the great seal of England and by this means has the common Law of England been communicated to all persons and executed throughout all that Realm for many years passed and so continued unto the reign of the late King James who also by a special proclamation in the third year of his reign declared and published that he had received all the Natives of the Realm of Ireland into his royal protection c. By which it was clearly resolved that the common Law of England was established universally throughout the Realm of Ireland and that all persons and possessions within that Realm ought to be governed by the rules of that Law and that every subject shall inherit his Lands in Ireland by the just and honourable law of England in that manner and by the same law that the King inherited the Crown of Irelaud and by these degrees was the common law of England introduced and established in Ireland And in the same year of that King accordingly it was by the special order of the deputy of Ireland and the justices resolved and declared that because all the Irish counties and the Inhabitants of them were to be governed by the rules of the common law of England Vid. Davis re f. 51.52 the Irish customs were void in law not only for the inconvenience and unreasonableness of them but for that they were meer personal customes and could not alter the descent of inheritance For all the possessions of the Irish territories before the common law of England was established did run either in the custome and course of Tanistry whereby every Lordship or chiefty with the portion of land which did pass with it did go without partition to the tanist and not to the next Heir of the Lord or chieftye but to the elder and more worthy of that linage who oftentimes was removed and expelled by another who was more active and more strong then he Besides the wives of the signiory claimed to have a sole property in a certain portion of goods during the coverture with power to dispose of them without the assent of their husbands Or in the course and custom of Gavel kind whereby all the inferiour tenancies were partible among the males in this manner the Causeny or chief of that linage who was commonly most antient after the death of every tennant which had a competent portion of land did assemble all of that linage and having put all their possessions in Hotch Potch did make a new partition of all in which partition he did not assign to the Sons of those that dyed the portion that the Father had but he allotted to every one of that linage according to his Antiquity the more and greater part by whom also a new partition upon the death of every inferiour Tenant was made at his will and discretion And so by reason of those frequent partitions and translation of Tenants from one portion to another all the possessions were uncertain and the uncertainty of the possessions was the true cause that no civil habitation were erected no inclosure or improvement was made of Lands in the Irish counties where this custome was in use especially in Vlster which seemed throughout to be a Wilderness before the new Plantation made by the English Undertakers there Also by that custome bastards had their purparty with the English the women were utterly excluded from Dower the daughters were not Inheritable though their Father died without Issue male and therefore for the aforesaid inconveniences and unreasonableness of those customes were they utterly abolished As the customs of Gavel kind in North-Wales by Edward the first and Henry the 8. which were semblable to the customs of the Irish and therefore was it adjudged that the lands in Ireland should descend according to the course of the the common law that women shall be endowed that daughters shall be inheritable for defect of issue male and the property of such goods should be in the Irish Lords and not in the feme coverts according to the Irish usage which resolution of the Judges by Order of the Deputy was registred among the acts of the Council but this provision was added to it That if any of the meer Irish had possessed and enjoyed any portion of land by these customs before the commencement of the reign of the late King James that he shall not be disturbed in his possession but shall be continued and established in it but that after the commencement of his reign all land shall be adjudged to descend to the Heirs by the Common Law and shall hereefter be possessed and enjoyed accordingly And yet were not the laws of England fully and rotally established in Ireland one of the main triangles of the laws of England being yet excluded for as Sir Edw. Coke Cok. Gom. on Litt. 110. B. the laws of England are devided into common Law Customs and Statute law and though the common law of England was introduced and the Irish customes abolished in Ireland yet were not the Statutes made in the Parliament of England currant in that countrey for the Land of Ireland had Parliaments made Law and changed laws and those of that land were not obliged by the Statutes of England because they did not send Knights to it as Sir Edw. Coke observeth Cok. Com. f. 141. B. And though Sir Edward Poynings having both Martial and Civil power given him by the commission of Henry the seventh above the Earl of Kildare then Deputy of Ireland Bacon Hen. 7. f. 138. called a Parliament in Ireland wherein was made that memorable Act which at this day is called Poynings Law whereby all the Statutes of England were made to be of force in Ireland yet before they were not neither are any now in force in Ireland which were made in England since that time but have had Parliaments since holden there wherein they have made divers particular Laws concerning the Government of that Domiuion wherefore in this particular Ireland was still a Dominion divided and separated from England and the union between those two Nations in that respect not absolutely perfect and therefore did it seem a worthy Act in the late Protector to have ordained by the advice of his Council that thirty Knights and Burgesses out of Ireland should be elected to sit in the Parliament of England thereby to oblige those of that countrey to be subject and obedient to our statute as well as
THE HISTORY OF THE UNION Of the four famous Kingdoms Of ENGLAND WALES SCOTLAND and IRELAND Wherein is demonstrated that by the prowess and prudence of the English those four distinct and discordant Nations have upon several conquests been entirely united and devolved into one Commonwealth and that by the candor of clemency and deduction of Colonies alteration of Laws and communication of Language according to the Roman rule they have been maintained preserved in peace and union Ruis ille tam coufidens aut tautis cervicibus qui audeat histeriam usquequaque veram scribere Lips l. 5. c. 11. Qui non libere veritatem pronunciat proditor veritatis est Cok. l. 11. f. â—3 By a lover of truth and his Country London Printed for Thomas Brewster and are to be sold at the three Bibles at the West-end of Paul's 16â—9 To the Right Honourable William Lenthall Esq Speaker of the PARLIAMENT of the Commonwealth of England Right Honourable IT is ascribed to Sir William Paulet for Prudence that in four several Kings and Queens reigns which were obnoxious to perillous Innovations he demeaned himself so observantly and cautiously in those tempestuous and dangerous times that he constantly held his head above water and augmented his advancement when numerous Noble personages were plunged in their abyss And have not there happened almost as many pernicious mutations and factions within these four years in this State as were in the Roman Republique for the space of five hundred wherein your Honour hath so circumspectly and vigilantly steered your course that you have not only shunned shipwrack which many others did suffer but have also fixed your bottom in the harbour of felicity and at this present with the applause and approbation of all men do sit at the helm of this Commonwealth Istuc est sapere qui ubicunque opus sit animum possit flectere Terent. Hecyr. And the Author cordially wisheth that you may equal Sir Will. Paulet live within 3 years of one hundred if not exceed the years of that famous Councellor of State that as he did by your grave direction and sage advice to the great Council of this Commonwealth and by its provident resolves Tranquillity and peace may be setled in these Nations and a firm Union established and preserved in them To which purpose the Author hath been induced to present to your Honour this impolite History concerning the Union of these Nations as Marcus Terentius Varro did his Book de origine linguae Latinae to Marcus Tullius Cicero not by way of instruction to admonish you but by way of reference to be censured by you as an equal arbitrator whether it be worthy of the publique light and may tend to the publique good which is the butt burthen of his labours wherein he hath had an especial care according to his skill that as Polibius prescribeth soli 〈◊〉 bentati litaret he should sacrifice solely to truth and that neither for any â—mister conceit he should detract from any or for any favourable respect flatter any but to pouâ—trait every person according to his just proportion And if it be conceived that in some passages he hath accidentally slipped seeing he hath endeavoured to ascend the higher and slippery places he hopeth well that your Honour will be pleased to pardon his slips and over-sights they proceeding from imbecillity and not pertinacy and to cover them with his good intentioneâ— that you will be as equal towards him as he is towards the great God whom he knoweth not to have given all things to one man So beseeching the Almighty to lengthen your days to the great good of this Commonwealth he submissively taketh his leave Your Honours most devoted Servant M. H. To the READER MOst men are naturally prone to applaud the times behind them and to vilifie the present as the Poet Hoc hodie ingenium est multis Clapmar ut tempora prisca Anteferant nostris tantum laudentque quod absit And upon the dislike of every present Government are desirous of a change like the fish Sepia trouble all the waters wherein they live Rom. 13.1 whereas all Government is of Godâ— whether Monarchical Aristocratical or Democratical Dan. 2.21 who at his pleasure changeth the times and fensons and removeth and seâ—eth up Kings and therefore ought all Gods people to submit and vail to his irresistible will and to be obedient to the present God vernment introduced by hâ—â— providence whence may bâ—â— inferred that those are of a serpentine and divelish disposition who by seducing pamphlets and captious conceits imploy their turbulent spirits to scatter the seeds of sedition and to foment commotions in such novel states not with an intention of the publick good as they gloriously pretend but to make way for their peculiar interest and presumptuous preferment wherein doubtless Coelum irritant armis they vainly make War with Heaven and irritate the divine vengeance to their dismal confusion who delighting to fish in such Stygian and troubled waters Saepe piscatores capti sunt are commonly catched in their own net and like ambitious bees drowned in their own honey Examples of which we need not seek from forraign parts our Nation affording too many who through such desperate and dangerous insurrectious have wrought the ruine of their generations and themselves and not to speak of the last combustion which is like to produce the same effects and forfeitures the Author wisheth in General Quodicti piscatores sapiant that being struck with this Scorpion they may cautiously avoid the like danger and wisely shun such destructive practices for it is not his drift to trample on the afflicted nor to upbraid any one with the commemoration of their preterit exorbitancies but to draw every one within the circumference and list of peace amity and union For what an horrid and inhumane spectacle hath it been and still is to fee that the English Nation which hath alwaies been accompted fierce against their foes and faithful to their friends shall now become more fierce and faithless one against another and sheath their swords in their own bowels such an unsociable and unnatural War producing the extirpation of many noble families and tending to the destruction of the whole Nation Wherefore for our own and countryes safety be exhorted and perswaded that whereas by the unanimous valour and constant circumspection of the English those three valiant Nations of Wales Scotland and Ireland have been totally vanquished and entirely united into one Commonwealth with England and at this present made a firm quaternity and invincible phalanx against all forraign Forces to set aside all civil discords and discontents and to remove them as far from us Quantum Hyspanis Venâ—to dissidet Eridano As far as Scythia dissides from Italy or Spain from Britanny and to bend and unite our national Forces against our forraign and outlandish Enemies that thereby we may live in unity and safety among
Rome or the Emperors For though some of the later Writers have called all the Nations contained within the Precincts of the Roman Empire as Grotius alledgeth Romania Grotius l. 2. fo 21. Selden ib. and Gildas saith of Britanny non Britanuia sed Romania censebatur yet no such transmutation of names was ever decreed or indicted by the Senate of Rome or Edict of the Emperor Clapmar de arcan imperii For a acute Clapmar saith The Romans did little esteem talia inania simulachra such vain shadows and shews and were not sollicitous of proud names so that they might have the matter it self Of which there is an example in the Poet Virg. Aeneid 12. fo 394. when Juno had left nothing untried whereby she might impede the Trojans from invading Italy which finding her self unable to effect it at the last defired Jupiter that forasmuch as the Trojans should possess and enjoy Italy yet they should not change the name but the Latins should retain their ancient name Ne velis indigenas nomen mutare Latinos Neu Troas fieri jubeas Teucrosque vocari Which Jupiter smiling to himself casily condiscended to as a matter of no moment for so the Poet proceedeth Olli subridens hominum rerumque repertor Do quod vis me victusque volensque remitto To wind up all in a word By the premises it is perspicuous that not only the Britans but all other Nations which by conquest were forced to serve under the Roman yoke were by clemency and arms imposition of laws and transmutation of Language reduced into one moral and civil body and were as it were one countrey and one Commonwealth insomuch as by Modestinus it is called communit patria and by Claudian Gens una Hujus pacificis debemus moribus omues Quod cuncti gens una sumus But now to compare Rome with Britain if it be comely to compare great things with lesse which as the Prince of the Roman Poets Tantum inter alias caput extulit urbes Virg. Egl. 1 Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi So as though for largeness and extent it being as hath been said Caput totius orbis it is incomparable yet in regard of the quality and condition of the abovesaid union it may admit some comparison for the conquerours in our Orbe Britanno did follow the tract and steps of the Roman conquerours whereby at the length upon their conquests they happily arrived at the like settlement of the union between the four discordant Kingdomes of England Wales Scotland and Ireland To begin with William the Conquerour who though he made an absolute and entire conquest of England and might have had all the Lands which he would have actually seized yet like a Roman clement conquerour he took â—â— mans estate from him Baker's History of England neither dispossessed them of any of their goods but from those whose demerit made them unworthy to hold them and would not adhere unto himâ— and the vacancy of Offices and filling up the places of those who were slain or fled was the present mean he made for preferring his followers and as William of Malmsbur saith in subjects leniter in rebeâ—â— turbide agens foeliciter omit Anglâ—â— potiebatur by intreating his subjects gently and the rebels rigorously he happily enjoyed all England For as in the body of a living creature mature doth convert food and nutriment into good blood and by degrees assimilates it to the body Sir Fran. Bacon So in union of countriâ—â— by conquest the conquerour ought to expel any part of the state conquered which he findeth so contrary as he cannot convert and assimilate it to the civil body of that state which was the current course of William the conquerour And though some Historians and Chroniclers of those times seem to vary from this assertion as Mathew of Westminster that after William the conquerour had subdued the Enlish terras Anglorum possessiones apsis expulsis successivis manu distribuit suis commilitonibus they being by degrees expelled he with his hand did distribute all the Lands and possessions of the English to his commilitions or fellow souldiers which Eodin and Ramatus Choppinus also though they had it at the second hand relate it for truth yet the contrary is manifested by his Act to one Warren a Norman of principle quality to whom he had granted the Castle of Sherborn in Norsolk But the heir of Sherborn the antient inheritour of that Castle shewing to William the conquerour that he was his subject and leigeman and did inherit the Castle by the same Law that the conquerour had allowed and established in England did therefore pray that he might hold the said Castle in peace Davys Report fo 41. the conquerour in this case did give judgment for Sherborn against Warren of which judgment Cambden maketh mention Davys ib. in the discription of Norfolk Justice Calthropp said that he had seen an antient copy of that judgment in the library of Sir Christopher Heydon at Barconsthorp in Norfolk and as Sir John Daâ—â— reporteth the contrary appeared by the book of Doomesday which in this point is of more credit then all the disconrses and chroniclers in the world wherein is contained an exact discription of all the Realm made in the time of the said King as Henry of Huntington setteth forth per Angliam ita totus regnabat quol ibi non una hida inerat de qua nu sciret cujus esset He so totally ruled over all England that there was not one hide of Land in it of which the knew not whose it was By which record it is declared that he did not take all the lands of the English into his hands and confer them on his fellows for in it is expresseâ— what Lands the conquerour haâ— in demesne to wit the Lands which were of St. Edward and are entituled Terrae Edwardi Regis and others which himself had seised upon the conquest and were entituled Terrae Regis without saying any more as is noted 49. Ed. 3.23 a And those Lands are now called the antient demesne Lands of the King or of the Crown of England and in this book the possessions of other Lands are put in certain as well as the possessions of the King and those Lands which are under other titles as Terrae Episcopi de Exeter c. And all other Lands which were in others hands and named in that book are frank free 40. Ed. 3.45 Fitz. N. B. 16. O. And also Roman like what he had purchased with his sword he possessed by his sword For as Sir Edward Coke Cok. pref l. 9. tâ—to ejus Regiminis tempore aut districtus nunquam interquievit gladius aut perpetuo manus institit capulo iterato evaginatura In all the time of his raign his drawn sword never rested or otherwise his hand was alwaies on his hilt ready to draw it again and at the first had
auimos fraenat quae fortibus aequat Imbelles populisque duces By whose immature obit the final and entire conquest of Scotland was prevented which in all probability might have prosperously succeeded if the envious destinies hâ—â— not stopped the success of his victories or his succeeding son had beâ— a trusty Executor of his Fathers Tâ— stament but he resembled his Father in vertue no more then Dimitian did Vespasian or Commodeâ— Aâ—toninus and one day of his Fathers as Tully said of Antony waâ— more to be desired then an whole Age of his For he degenerating from his fathers worth lost all by sloth and luxury which his father had won by valour and industry permitting the new Scotch King to take all the Garrisons and Castles in Scotland and without resistance to enter the English borders and to take and burn Towns that unless he would suffer him to pull his crown from his head he could doe no less then give him battel and in a manner forced him for his honour to levy an Army who like himself raised one more fit for a court then a camp which though it in number exceeded the Scottish Army was by it hamefully defeated the particulars and event of which would I could bury in oblivion so much doth it ecclipse the ancient glory of our Nation Which singular victorie so encouraged the Scots that for the space of three hundred years they were emboldned almost without any intermission to make War with the English to their little losse and prejudice and could never be throughly quieted and appeased until the happy arrival of James the King of Scots to the crown of England upon which ensued a blessed peace and union between those two discordant and belligerant Nations an hopeful union of both Kingdoms under one natural Liege Sovereign Bacon discourse of that union at which the Scottish Nation at the instant of his Majesties reign became Denisons and the â—ostuati were naturalized Subjects of England from the time forward and besides it was a conjunction of Allegiance and Obedience of the Subjects of both Kingdoms due by nature to their Sovereign which in substance is but the uniting of the hearts of the Subjects of both Kingdoms one to the other under one Head and Sovereign Cok. L. 7. Calvins case f. 15. from which proceeded the union of protection of both Kingdoms equally belonging to the Subjects of either of them Yet was not this Union so absolute but that there were many separations and distinctions between them as that they were distinct Kingdoms governed by several judicial and municipal laws and had distinct and separated Parliaments for which reason the said King with all the forces and faculties of his mind wherein he surmounted his Predecessors endeavoured more entirely to cement and conjoin them especially by laws which are the sinews of Societies For as Sir Francis Bacon naturalization doth not take away the mark of a Forreiner but union of laws makes us entire as our selves which taketh away both destruction and separation and to that end called a Parliament without which it could not legally be brought to pass For as Sir Edw. Coke Cok. lib. 7. Calvins case f. 17. a King that hath a Kingdom by descent seeing by the Laws of that Kingdom he doth not inherit that Kingdome he cannot change those laws of himself without consent of Parliament which though solenmly propounded and ardently pursued by his Majesty in Parliament as also vigorously and judiciously seconded by many of the ablest members of the house of Commons yet were the subjects of this kingdome in this point so refractory and adverse to the subjects of the other Kingdome that no union during that Kings raign at any time in any Parliament though often times moved could be voted ordained and established Augustis tamen excidit ausis And therefore this union lasted not long for that it was not setled and pertected according to the aforesaid principles and rules neither had it so long lasted but that that provident and circumspect King did conserve those two Emulous Nations in peace and unity more by his magnificency and humanity especially towards the subjects of the other Kingdome then by the politick precepts of union by whose debonarity and bounty the Scottish mens minds were so closely bound and knit unto him that as well in Scotlend whilst the King was absent no distast or discontent did break out among them as also they forsook their stable confederacy with the French which for many ages was the Source and Origin of implacable and bloody battels between the English and Scots they being thereunto incited and assâ—â—ed by the French whereas whilst the King reigned the Scots had little Correspondence with the French and in civil comport seemed to exceed the English being ready with them chearfully to conjoâ—n their forces against the affronts of any enemy whether Spaniard or French In this peaceable posture and union did King James leave the Scots when he left this light But his Sonne succeeding wanted his Fathers Kings craft and became too rigid towards the Scots and though he knew them addicted to the reformed Religion and the Geneva discipline yet would he obtrude upon them a book of common prayer framed by the Arch-bishops and Bishops wherein was contayned several seeds of idolatry superstition false Doctrine as they averred also a Canon annexed thereunto that whosoever should oppose the same should incurr the pain of excomunication with diâ—ers other canons fraught with errors and superstitions which wonderously inflamed the Scots and exasperated them to raise seditions and to rebel against their King for as Danaeus propter mutatam a Principe vel publice vel privatim religionem patriam ob peregrinam susceptam populus saepe a principe desciscit For the changing of the Religion of ones Countrey publiquely or privatly by the Prince and imposing a strange one the people doe often rebel against their Prince as here it hapned which they managed with such violence and confidence that a royall and terrible army of the English could not fright or dismay them but cunningly by degrees drew the English into their faction who unanimously conjoyning did eradicate the Hierarchy of Arch-bishops Bishops their jurisdiction book of common prayer and canons and the like trumpery in both Kingdomes and for many years adhered to the Parliament and maintained a defensive War against those evil counsellors as seduced and withdrew his Majesty from his Parliament But in the end the Scots fell into variance with the Parliament for many particular propositions concerning the interest and power of the King and chiefly for going about to diminish the just power and greatness of his Majesty which they by their covenant as was by them pretended their allegiance and duty as subjects were obliged to support and thereupon in a grievous discontent without taking their leaves left England and quite deserted the Parliament But not long after the fatal doom and
our common Laws that as we are one and the same common-wealth so we may be governed by one and the same Laws and they participate of the same honours and priviledges which is the surest means for the consolidation of such a union for the more entire the union is the less apt will they be upon any occasions to break and the imperfection of such a union being oftentimes the Origine and cause of Revolts a direful example of which is recorded in the Annals of the Roman Republick which as it was the best estate in the world so is it the best example which as in the frontispice we have followed so will we not forsake to the end Aneus Martius was the first that conquered the Latins who having by force taken many of their Towns received many thousands of them into the City of Rome as one body but because they were not equally intreated they joyned Armes with the Tarquinians against the people of Rome and though after a bloody battail they were reunited yet was not that union durable because not entire for that the people of Rome had not inserted them in their Tribes nor admitted them to participate of their immunities and honours for which reasons the Latins conceiving themselves to be undervalued and vilified were bold to demand the freedom of the city of Rome and that one of their consuls be of their countrey which being denyed they converted their demands into Armes Yet afterwards being again reconciled upon hopes to be enfranchised first by Fabius Flaccus one of the consuls who attempted the prorogation of the Law though impeded by the Senate and afterwards by Livius Brusus who was also opposed by the people at which exasperated seeing themselves deluded they made an association with the Hetrurians and the Sabius who because they were all by affinity of promiscuous marriages consanguineans and as Florus saith Florus l. 3. c. 18. unum corpus with the people of Rome and that they had augmented that city by their valour and yet were dispised they jointly made War against the City of Rome as well those who lived in the City as those who abided in Italy which was called Bellum sociale but indeed bellum civile Ibid acivil and destructive War both to the people of Rome and the Cities of Italy that as Florus saith Nec Annibalis nec Pyâ—rhi fuit tanta vastatio the devastation and depopulation of Hanniball and Pyrrhus was not soe great such were the fatall fruits of an imperfect union Whereupon the people of Rome instructed by fad experience did condiseend to a more intire union with them and permitted them to participate of the priviledges and honors of Rome being according to their worth preferred and placed in the Senate which Claudius in Tacitus urgeth in the like case for the bringing in of the chiefest of the French into the Senate in these words Neque enim ignoro Iulios Alba Tacit. l. 11. Caruncanios Camerio Portios Tusculo ne vetera scrutemur Etruria Lucaniaque omni Italia in Senatum accites Caeter a quis neseit And needs no application But in this case the sovereign use of the Law hath almost made me to omit the necessity of Arms and to demonstrate how through the insufficiency and debility of English Colonies and the Militia in Ireland a detestable and infernal design was hatched and contrived by the rebellious and bloody Papists whereby all the Forts and Magazins in that Kingdom were to be surprized in one day and all the English Protestants massacred and all Ireland in one day to be lost had it not through the providence of God the very night before been discovered by one only Irish man servant to one Sir John Clotworthy whom Macmahon had unadvisedly trusted with the Plot by which Dublin was saved and the seizure of the Castle the Kingdomes chief Magazine prevented to which purpose many rebels of great note came to the City the day before who upon the apprehension of Macmahon escaped with the Lord Macquire that night to do more mischief with the rest of the conspirators that were that day in all the country round about within two months space murthered 200000 protestanes many of them being by intollerable tortures brought to their end besides infinit numbers who were robbed and spoiled of all they had and daily driven naked and almost famished to Dublin for reliefe with whom the City was soc filled that they were enforced for the preservation of themselves and the lives of their wives children and families to fly for succour into the severall parts of the Dominions of England and Wales O nullo scelus credibile in avo Quodque posteritas negot Sen ' câ— Toyest It equalling if not exceeding in number and cruelty the execrable and perfidious Massacre of the Protestants in France and Paris For Ireland being destitute of a Deputy and military guards Hinc Hiberniae calamitas the Lord Justices Sir William Persons and Sir John Borlace were driven to take those Arms which they found in Dublin and to arm whom they could of a â—â—â—dain to defend themselves and the places near against the approach of the enemy In this dangerous streight and perillous condition did the estates of the English in Ireland stand who for want of a setled station of English Colonies were at the point to have lost themselves and that Countrey for the English were so involved in homebred civil Wars that the Parliament of England for a present aid could send them but twenty thousand pounds and though afterwards they transported some Regiments yet for the space of ten years were they unable to free that countrey from that malignant and pestilent enemy The Trojan Wars being incomparable to it for cruelty for through our daily discords and distractions their cursed cruel crue continually augmented almost to the overwhelming and destruction of the English But when all the malignants were quelled in England and the Royalists debelled in Scotland and that Dublin was besieged by the Irish with a formidable Army and in danger of a surrender General Cromwell was sent by the Parliament of England to relieve Dublin and suppress the Irish Rebels at whose approach Colonel Jones encouraged made an unexpected and suddain sally on the enemy and valiantly repelling them put them all to flight which the General pursuing within a short space bysnarp siedges regained those strong Towns and Garrisons which the Irish had surreptitiously surprized and by degrees cleared the countrey of such seditious Irish as seduced and corrupted the well affected of that Nation and having setled it in peace and safety at his return was honoured with the thanks of the Parliament And now the provident Parliament apprehending it more safe and advantagious to prevent commotions then to suppress them ordained and appointed English Colonies to be deduced into Ireland which they committed first to the charge of Lieutenant General Ireton and after his death to the Marshalling of Lieutenant General Charles Fleetwood who afterwards for his singular care and vigilancy was by the Lord Protector made Deputy of Ireland both of them being successively Commanders in chief of a competent Army and of all the Garrisons sufficiently fortifyed and to strike the more terror into Delinquents they censured the ringleaders of that Rebellion with Capital punnishment Vt poena ad paucos metus ad omnes perveniat Cok. Com. And confiscated all the lands and goods of some and sequestrated others to the use of the Commonwealth by which Roman Model Ireland ever since hath been ruled and preserved in peace and unity the English language also being through continual commerce the common speech among them To draw all to period By this I hope it is made perspicuous that unions of Kingdoms upon conquest upon which basis the most parts of such unions have been founded being purchased by valour are possessed and setled by the sweetness of clemency power of Armes severity of clemency power of Armes severity of Laws and communication of language which is fully demonstrated by that universal union of the Roman Orb as by the particular union of England Wales Scotland and Ireland which is by those means so compleatly perfected and by the prowess and prudence of the Parliament and it's Conquering Champions fetled that as it was worthily vowed by the late King James faciam cos In gentem unam which indeed he did endeavour to have effected so it may be truly averred of the Common-wealth of England Quod fecit cos in gentem unaâ— that it hath made those several Countries one Nation which the premised Roman course being observed may so remain and continue Dum coelum stellae eandem rationem obtinent whilst the Sun and Stars run the same course With this hypothetical caution if union be softred and cherished among our selves and ambitious and envious discord shnaned which as a swelling and eminent Rock â—â—sheth in pieces the firmest commonwealth approaching it which was the ruine of the Roman commonwealth it self as the Venusine Poet. Suis ipsa Roma viribus ruit Hor. e. 15. And therefore let us lay aside all occasions of diffidence and suspition which may breed discord and dissention and remember the animadversion of St. Paul that if you bite and devour one another take heed you be not consumed one of another for humana Consilia Castig antur ubi divinis praeferuntur Thus hath the Author rudely woven a difficult work which deserves a finer thread and a neater Artist yet proposing truth for his end he hopeth it may countenance the simplicity of the stile Cok. li. 10. ep for veritatis sermo simpleâ— and his labour whatsoever it is Tacit. Agr. for the profession of truth aut laudatus aut excusatus erit yet respecting himself he is so far from the imagination of praise that he shall conceive himself favourably dealt withal if he may find pardon for his presumption FINIS